Alabama sophomore third baseman Alex Avila had three hits and four RBIs and sophomore right-handed pitcher Tommy Hunter threw eight scoreless innings as the Crimson Tide blanked the No. 6 Arkansas Razorbacks 10-0 at home Friday.

Avila went 3-for-5 with a two-run triple and a solo home run and missed the cycle by a double in the lopsided win for the Crimson Tide (28-22, 12-13 SEC).

Avila tagged his 12th home run of the season to lead off the sixth inning and give the Tide a 9-0 lead.

Hunter (6-4) held the Razorbacks (36-15, 16-9) to five singles through eight scoreless innings as he out-pitched Arkansas All-American and junior left-hander Nick Schmidt. Hunter added seven strikeouts and walked two en route to the win.

Senior right hander Patrick Kelly preserved the Crimson Tide’s fourth shutout of the year with a scoreless ninth inning. After allowing a lead off double, he added two strikeouts and got Jake Dugger on a ground ball to end the game.

Vanderbilt 10, Auburn 5: David Price moved to 9-0 on the year after giving up five runs, four earned, on seven hits in eight innings of work to help lead Vanderbilt to a Friday win.

Price struck out six and walked two to move to 5-0 in SEC action. He now has 149 strikeouts on the season and is six short of tying his single season school record of 155 set last year.

The Commodores improved to 42-9 overall and clinched a spot in the SEC tournament with an 18-7 league mark. The Tigers (28-23, 7-18) dropped their fourth straight decision to Vanderbilt.

Mike Bianucci’s two-out RBI single in the first gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. But, by the end of the fifth inning, Vanderbilt was leading 9-1. Auburn tallied three runs in the sixth to make it 9-4.

The Tigers added another run on an RBI groundout in the seventh to close out their scoring.

Copyright 2005 THE DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved.
AP contributed to this report.